Sometimes you have to show emotion with your pitchers, especially with different guys. It's up to me to develop relationships with each of them so I know which approach to take." -- LSU junior Tyler Moore

Sometimes home is a lot
closer than you think. It sure seems that way to LSU junior Tyler Moore,
anyway.

For two years, the
former Dunham School standout has filled different roles for two very successful
Tigers teams, but he never completely found a permanent place.

Tyler MooreLSUSports.net

That nomadic existence
might've frustrated a lot of players. The even-keeled Moore simply turned it
into motivation.

Now, with fall practice
for the 2014 season set to wrap up this weekend when LSU puts on the Purple & Gold
World Series at Alex Box Stadium, Moore's motivation, perseverance and patience
has added up to a trip back home.

Home for Moore is back
behind the plate at catcher, a spot he manned for three of his four seasons at
Dunham before shifting to shortstop.

That was one of four
starting jobs open when the Tigers began fall drills, and Moore has emerged from
a group of four catchers as the first in line to get a shot as the new starter
when spring practice arrives next January.

"I do feel like I'm
back home on the field," Moore said. "It's a great feeling to be back there and
being able to work with the pitchers again and building that bond.

"My whole life, I've always
thought it was a natural fit for me. It's definitely my favorite position on
the field. I love being back there and that makes it easy to work hard at it
and improve."

Apparently so, because
Moore has certainly taken big strides since LSU's 2013 season ended at the
College World Series - especially this fall when he has taken the lead in a
group that includes junior-college transfer Kade Scivicque and sophomores Chris
Chinea and Michael Barash.

Not that Moore was ever
too far away from his baseball home.

He spent his freshman
season in 2012 as LSU's third-string catcher, and played a major role on the
final weekend of the regular season at South Carolina when he was thrust into emergency
starting duty because starter Ty Ross was out with an appendectomy and backup
Jordy Snikeris got hurt in the series opener.

Moore, who had nailed
down a spot as the regular first baseman, didn't flinch and caught two of the
three games at South Carolina in a series when the Tigers claimed the outright
SEC regular-season crown.

"We were playing for
the outright championship that weekend, and not being super experienced, Tyler was
able to assert himself back there and get the job done," LSU assistant coach
Javi Sanchez said. "That gave him a lot of confidence that stuck with him and has
spilled into his development as a catcher this year."

Added Moore, "My back
was up against the wall that weekend, and when that happens, you've just got to
fight. I knew I had to play a big role that weekend and it really helps my
confidence now to know I could go behind the plate and catch well for my team
with so much on the line."

Sanchez has worked
extensively with Moore and he has a little experience at what the junior is
going through. During his playing career at Notre Dame, when Sanchez played for
LSU coach Paul Mainieri, he made the transition from shortstop to catcher
between his sophomore and junior seasons.

He sees some of the
same emergence in Moore, who last season operated at the two corner infield
spots with the arrival of Chinea and Barash as the main backups to Ross, a
three-year mainstay at catcher.

LSU junior Tyler Moore is showing more pop at the plate this fall.Vasha Hunt | AL.com

Moore doesn't have the
same defensive skill set of Ross, who was as good a receiver and running game
stopper as there was in the SEC last season. But the 6-foot, 195-pound Moore is
a more proven offensive threat and could actually surprise with his steadiness
behind the plate.

"When you watch Tyler
catch, nothing really jumps out - his throwing, his receiving, his blocking - but
when you put the whole package together, he's pretty good," Sanchez said. "Our
guys really like throwing to him. He commands the strike zone well and he has a
great demeanor back there. That rubs off on the pitchers. He's never too high,
never too low. He just gets the job done. A lot of people define a catcher by,
as the game goes on, you never notice him, and that's the way Tyler works.

"We might see a little bit
of a dropoff from Ross, because he was such a good defensive catcher and had a
great arm, but I don't think it will be a glaring weakness at all. Tyler Moore
has the mental capacity to be able to keep his poise back there."

That poise may be the
biggest ingredient to Moore's emergence.

While Ross was an
emotional sparkplug who was equal parts motivator and mother hen with the
pitching staff, Moore is more low-key and lead-by-example oriented.

"In baseball, you're
going to have ups and downs, so I've always tried to be pretty level-headed,"
he said. "I think that can help the pitchers out. Sometimes you have to show
emotion with your pitchers, especially with different guys. It's up to me to develop
relationships with each of them so I know which approach to take."

Added Sanchez, "Tyler has
to be able to put his arm around a guy and tell him he made a nice pitch, but
the hitter did a great job hitting it, or vice versa, tell him he made a bad
pitch and we were able to get away with it. He has to be able to assert himself
more with the pitchers, not necessarily as a rah-rah guy because I don't know
if he'll ever be that kind of leader. But he has to be able to create an
environment where the pitchers are totally focused on executing pitches."

If it's a matter of
Moore adapting to a different role, then he has plenty of experience at that
since he got to LSU.

With Ross entrenched as
the starting catcher in 2012, Moore took a workmanlike approach to learning
first base, where he started 25 games that spring and helped free Mason Katz up
to play in the outfield. Similarly, when Moore went into the 2013 season as a
man without a starting job when Katz and fellow senior Raph Rhymes returned, he
carved a niche as a utility man and pinch-hitter.

In fact, Moore was
often the first left-handed bat off the bench last season for the Tigers and responded
with several key pinch-hits on the way to hitting .281, with 9 doubles among his 27 hits in 96 at-bats.

As much as he embraced
that unheralded job last season, though, Moore is champing at the bit to nail
down a starting job as a junior - whether that be behind the plate or a
combination role at catcher/first base/DH.

"Knowing that the job
(behind the plate) is open and that our starting catcher is gone from last year
has helped me because I know somebody needs to step up and I want to be that
guy who does that," Moore said. "Catching every other day this fall has been
really good for me."

Swinging the bat well
and with a noticeably different approach has been as well.

The left-hand swinging
Moore has always been a solid hitter, but consistency has been a problem at
times -- in part because of sporadic opportunities last season -- but the flashes
of potential seem to hint that he hasn't been that far off.

Tyler Moore batted .281 as a sophomore and carved a niche as a utility player and pinch-hitter.Hilary Scheinuk NOLA.com | Times-Picayune

And his flair for the
dramatic is also well-established, with a game-tying, 9th-inning
home run against Stony Brook in the 2012 Super Regional and a handful of key
hits in the 2013 postseason - one off Oklahoma ace Sonny Gray in another Super
Regional plate appearance - as the framework.

With physical maturity
helping out, Moore has gotten stronger and more focused on what the LSU coaches
want him to provide in the batter's box.

"He's been hitting the
ball more gap-to-gap this fall which is exciting to see," Sanchez said. "We
feel like there's some untapped power in him. We want him to drive the ball and
see a lot of doubles and clutch RBIs from him.

"Tyler has always put
together good (at-bats) in my opinion. He goes deep in counts, he's not going
to offer at balls and he's going to give you a quality at-bat more often than
not. The way he's swinging now makes him a more complete player, and it's
exciting that he's been able to go back there and make an impression as a catcher
on his teammates and coaches, too."

Excited maybe, but not
totally unexpected. After all, it's never tough to go home again.